Ex-Marymount hospice chief loses case against newspaper

The former CEO of Marymount Hospice in Cork yesterday lost his High Court bid to have two articles on the Irish Examiner website taken down after a judge ruled they were not defamatory.

Mr Justice Max Barrett ruled the court reports which referred to Mr Dan Philpott’s leaving Marymount after seven months as CEO and a subsequent employment-related court case which was settled were not defamatory and did not injure Mr Philpott’s reputation in the eyes of reasonable members of society.

The judge rejected an application by Mr Philpott to have the published articles removed from the Irish Examiner website.

Mr Justice Max Barrett said in the opinion of the court neither of the two aricles published by the Irish Examiner however viewed, and no statement contained in either of the two articles contains or constitutes a statement that tends to injure Mr Philpotts’ reputation in the eys of reasonable members of society.

Court reports, Mr Justice Barrett said, are not just of interest to the public they meet a great public interest.

“In a liberal democracy that prizes individual freedoms, all branches of government are rightly subject to the scrutiny of an ever watchful public Reporters perform an essential role in ensuring that members of the public learn of what is being done in their courts and why,” the judge said.

He added: “It is by and through the media that a critical eye is so often brought to the work of all branches, offices and officers of government. This is so important a task that — except in so far as is necessary to ensure that the right of every citizen to her or his good name is protected and capable of vindication — the media must go relatively unconstrained in their efforts.”